The Light of the Shadows: The Quest Begins
Hi, this story was written by Wind and Shadow, Thunder and River, - I am never alone } . Characters * Clover Casting Shadows Like Fangs (Clover) - brown-and-tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes * Flower That Tastes Sweet on Tongue (Flower) - gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes * Holly Leaves That Make Dappled Ground With Shadow (Holly) - silver she-cat with white patches and yellow eyes * Teller of the Pointed Stones (Stoneteller) - mottled brown tom with amber eyes * Mouse That Runs From Hawk (Mouse) - dappled ginger she-cat with hazel eyes * Mountain Peak Rising Over Clouds (Mountain) - ginger tom with green eyes * Pine Needle Falling From Branch (Pine) - mottled white tom with yellow eyes * River Rushing at Mountain's Foot (River) - tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with hazel eyes * Hare Running Between Snowed Rocks (Hare) - tortoiseshell-and-silver she-cat with yellow eyes * Lark Fluttering in Forest (Lark) - yellow she-cat with yellow eyes * Stone That Rolls Down Mountain (Stone) - mottled golden tom with hazel eyes * Hawk That Swoops to Catch Prey (Hawk) - silver she-cat with darker flecks and yellow eyes Chapter 1 - Holly Clover, Flower, and Holly knew their destinies - Clover and Flower would be cave-guards, and Holly would be a prey-hunter. It was time for them to become to-bes - Stoneteller exited his cave and yowled, "Cats of the Tribe! We have some to-bes to make! Clover Casting Shadows Like Fangs and Flower That Tastes Sweet on Tongue, you will be cave-guards. May your senses stay sharp and no hawk or eagle kill our cats without going past you. Holly Leaves That Make Dappled Ground With Shadow, when I die, you will become our healer. May your eyes and ears watch for signs and you grow to become a great healer." "Clover! Flower! Holly!" the cats chanted. A healer? Holly thought, heart sinking. But I thought I was going to be a prey-hunter! Their mother, Mouse, ran up to them. "Holly!" she exclaimed. "I had absolutely no idea Stoneteller was going to pick you for his healer to-be! I thought you were going to be a prey-hunter!" "That's what I thought too," Holly muttered quietly to herself. Their father, a cave-guard called Mountain, ran up to Clover and Flower. "I hope you follow in my pawsteps and become the best cave-guard you can be," he praised. Then he glanced at Clover. "And Clover, I hope you become a good healer, maybe even better than Stoneteller!" His eyes flitted to Stoneteller. "No offense." "None taken," Stoneteller smiled. But Holly knew Mountain was only saying it so he wouldn't be singling out Clover and Flower. She gazed out at the clouds dotting the bright blue sky when Stoneteller said, "Holly, come." Holly rushed over to where Stoneteller is, standing at the Tunnel to the Pointed Stones. "Yes?" she asked. "Follow me," Stoneteller said. He turned and entered the tunnel, ending in a cavern filled with sunlight from the great hole above a pool surrounded with pointed stones. This was the Pool of the Pointed Stones, and the den where past healers and future healers would sleep. There were two dimples in the wall, each with a hollow. One of them had moss arranged in it - that was Stoneteller's. The empty one was where Holly would sleep. "This is the Pool of the Pointed Stones," Stoneteller announced. "At night, when the moon is shining above us, the Tribe of Endless Hunting sometimes sends signs to us through this pool. But you must look for signs and omens wherever you go, my to-be, for some things the Tribe of Endless Hunting cannot show in the pool." Holly nodded. "Now, you also need to learn how to lead the Tribe, and about herbs," Stoneteller continued. He kept on about how important it was for there to be a good healer, for cats died more often when their healer couldn't remember their herbs. Holly listened intently, but she thought, Oh, Tribe of Endless Hunting! There's so much to learn! Chapter 2 - Clover In the corner of her eye, Clover watched as Holly followed Stoneteller through the Tunnel of the Pointed Stones. Lucky! she thought. But her attention was drawn away from Holly when two prey-hunter to-bes, Pine and River, greeted her. "Hey!" Pine said. "I'm Pine, and this is my sister River. We're training to be prey-hunters. But ever since those Clan cats came some years back, every cat learns a bit about the other's job, so the prey-hunters can defend themselves, and cave-guards can hunt if they need to." River smiled. She didn't seem like the river that raged in the Time of Freed Water, for which she was named. But cats in the Tribe were named for the first thing their mother sees after birth, so River was River, no matter what her personality was like. "Hare and Lark say we can train with you," Pine said. "They arranged it with Stone and Eagle." "Stone and Eagle?" Clover asked. "Are they our trainers for the day?" "Yep," River mewed as she bounced up and down. "I can't wait! Pine and I are still practicing turning our eagle-leaping technique into a leap-on-cats-and-claw-them technique. I bet you'll probably learn that too, because you need to leap on eagles too." "That's right," came a deep, unfamiliar voice from behind Clover. Clover turned, seeing a mottled golden tom standing behind her. "I'm Stone, and this is Eagle." A silver she-cat with darker flecks on her fur stepped forward. "Hello, kits! I mean, to-bes! I'm Eagle." "...okay..." Flower said with a derp face. "You need to stop doing a derp face," Clover sighed. "Beetle-brain," Flower retorted. "Anyways," Eagle said, butting in. "Today we're going to be practicing battle moves. I want Pine and Clover together and River and Flower together. Flower, Clover, you're going to practice jumping on top of Pine and River, and Pine, River, I want you two to practice going limp and then kicking upwards to get free. C'mon. Follow me." They followed Eagle, Stone, Hare, and Lark down the path to the foot of the mountain. They walked until they reached a bright, sunny clearing. "Here," Eagle said. She beckoned to Lark. "This is what we'll be practicing." She launched off of her powerful hind legs onto Lark. Lark went limp, and Eagle stood, taking most of her weight off of Lark. Then Lark kicked up and Eagle flew off. Chapter 3 - Flower Flower grinned. She looked at River and feinted to the left. River dodged to the right, and then Flower leaped to the right. In the panic to escape, River was smushed. He was so shocked, that when he kicked, Flower bounced up and landed back down on him. "Oomph!" River grunted. "Nice!" Eagle praised. "I like how you feinted to the left, so River was shocked when you jumped right. Great idea. Nice practice, ki- I mean, to-bes! Let's go see what the prey-hunters have caught so we can eat." She glanced up at the sun. It was high-sun. "It's about time for our midday meal." They traveled up the mountain path, when they entered the Cave of Rushing Water. Mouse ran up to them. "Did you have a good day?" she asked. Flower rolled her eyes. "Mouse, you can stop fussing now." Mouse took a step back. "Sorry." She looked around. "Where's Holly? I thought she'd be out by now." Flower shrugged. "I dunno." Chapter 4 - Holly Holly looked out of the hole. "When am I going to get to mingle? When are we going to get our prey?" Stoneteller snorted. "Mingle? You're a healer to-be. You don't get to mingle. And don't worry, the prey-hunters will bring us some prey." Two prey-hunters walked into the den and dropped an eagle's torso. "See?" Holly sighed. "But I want to mingle! I want to see how Flower and Clover are doing." Stoneteller growled. "Holly! A healer stays in the den unless there is an announcement, watching for signs every second. We do not get to mingle!"